Book

Description

Gas flaring, oil spills and oil-waste discharge arising from drilling, refining and distributing of fossil fuel adversely affecting people, their means of livelihood and the ecosystem, ‘alias negative externalities’, have become a recurring decimal and matter of contestation in oil and gas industry. These negative externalities were adjudged to be the primary bane of periodic ‘conflict’ between ‘the oil and gas industry’ on one hand, and the ‘oil-bearing communities (OBCs)’ on the other. Various measures were being employed across climes to mitigate negative externalities, but the problem still remains an issue of major functional challenge in some oil endowed climes such as Rivers State of Nigeria. The thesis sought to critically interrogate this problematic issue of managing negative externalities vis-a-vis conflict that periodically occurs within the context of theories of “Externality”, and “Social Group Interests”. The study found out that beyond the well-established oil environmentally induced conflict causative factors, are deeper unresolved complexity and contradictions embedded in these aforementioned measures being employed to redress negative oil externality. Thus, the study concluded that as long as the ‘oil companies’ continued to operate with impunity without regard to the rule of law or global best practices, the ideals of liberty, safer environment and peaceful coexistence will not be realized or will remain very much at a very high price. The study therefore, recommended some far-reaching measures as the panacea for sustainable pollution-free oil and gas operation and s